Michael Eleftheriou

Director, Acquisitions Daily

Michael Eleftheriou is an active investor as well as adviser to early-stage companies in the technology, biotech and e-publishing sectors in the UK and Greece. He also manages a portfolio of listed companies in the energy, technology and medical diagnostic sectors.

Michael prefers to take an active role in the companies in which he invests by contributing to the commercial aspects of the business including strategy, fundraising and sales. He also enjoys mentoring new entrepreneurial ventures.

He is currently a director of Acquisitions Daily, an electronic publication business covering M&A and addressing the City market; and has been a director of iNovar, a technology firm that enables mobile access to an enterprise’s business intelligence. He was chairman of Synthace, a synthetic biology company focusing on rapid engineering of micro-organisms for the biosynthesis of high value chemicals and biological products, until it successfully received VC investment.

In terms of future investments, he aims to build a portfolio of up to 10 companies.

His experience includes 17 years in investment banking with institutions such as Commerzbank, Rabobank, Citigroup and HSBC, mainly in structured finance (securitisation & principal finance) but also in project finance and derivatives. He has led the origination and closing of transactions involving the financing of more than €15 billion worth of assets (including residential and commercial real estate, shipping loans, aircraft leases and consumer loans).

Michael is a Chemical Engineer by training, has an MSc in Biochemical Engineering and a MBA from Imperial College.

Programme sessions

13:00 – 14:15

Pitching for Success

Pitching for Success will be to an audience that includes investors, support organisations and individuals.

The Investor Panel will include professional funding organisations; including speakers from crowd investment (Peer2Peer, equity, loans), venture capital and public sector funding. Each panelist will give an overview of what they look for when investing or funding a company followed by Q&A with the audience.

After all the presentations are completed, the excitement continues as the audience votes to select a winning company. The two session winners will be announced at 15:45 and will be able to pitch again to the audience, who will decide the overall winner on the day for the £1,000 cash prize.

As well as the live pitches and investor panels, the companies from both sessions will be available in the John Henry Brookes Lecture Theatre Foyer for networking.